Is there a way to 'manage' rubber mats to minimise them getting icky underneath?

[catembi]

I have 6 stables with concrete floors. Up until recently, they all had thick interlocking rubber mats - the 18mm super comfy ones. I pulled them all up in an attempt to make sure there is NO SMELL coming from my yard & found...ewwwww...! The concrete is flat so does not drain at all, and in the new block of 4 stables, there is a shallow channel going past the doors so liquid is actively encouraged to go back under the mats. It is very, very important to minimise smell from my yard, so at the moment, I have left the mats up while I have a think. The horses are never shut in...they can wander around the yard or go up the field. A complication is that I poo pick into IKEA bags which are taken away twice a week by a smallholder, but they want very minimal bedding in with the poo as they prefer it 'neat'.

I want to put my super expensive rubber mats back down so that the horses are comfy again, but the second one of them has a wee, it will be festering away underneath. I doubt if even miscanthus could 'contain' a whole wee enough to stop it seeping through. I just don't know what to do. I must not make a smell as I am currently the lucky recipient of a string of vexatious complaints to the council and I need to be absolutely beyond reproach in the hygiene dept. The mats are really heavy and I really, really cba pulling them all up every week. It is hard work and time consuming, not to mention icky. Aarrgghh, I don't know what the answer is! Maybe there isn't one!

 

[ponynutz]

I clean under mine every 6 months with average floor cleaner and antiseptic floor cleaner. I've never had smelling problems until it gets to the point where they need cleaning.

I've never found a way to solve the problem other than be on top of it and deep clean the stable every 6 months (or at the end of winter and end of summer if it's easier). So it sounds like if you need rubber mats and really can't have a smell you're going to have to brave it.

You could try much more absorbent bedding and more of it as well.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Never managed that! Would you consider getting all boxes done with the liquid rubber? Mats sell for loads, if I were in permanent accommodation, I’d do the liquid thing.

 

[pistolpete]

There is powder you can put down. Can’t remember the name

 

[ihatework]

There is powder you can put down. Can’t remember the name

Stalasan will neutralise any odour

 

[catembi]

Oh yes, I would absolutely consider liquid rubber (if we don't have to move due to neighbour's antics), but wouldn't liquid still get underneath? I understand that it goes up the sides like skirting, but if it sets to be a solid piece a bit like a pond liner, I would worry that water would get under it? Considering that we had the stables built, the drainage is bad! It's rough concrete but without any sort of slope. The channel at the front is a little lower than the floor.

The mats were £££££££ so I am a bit exasperated by it all, but I'd never had them before so I didn't know how they worked.

 

[catembi]

I have got Stable Fresh powder from Equimins. I have also got a liquid which is used in the Netherlands to remove the smell of wee from underpasses, which I wash the concrete with if anyone has had a wee. And I have some slurry treatment liquid and spray the limestone yard once a week to minimise the wee smell. I am obsessed with not making a smell, but we would lose so much money if we had to move and I would really hate to lose this place.

Stable Fresh can't do much about liquid under the mats, nor can Jeyes Fluid or any of my other potions, sadly!

I am going to have a look at liquid rubber

 

[Caol Ila]

I occasionally lift the mats, think, "Oh, that was a mistake," then I pretend it didn't happen and get on with my day. There's no smell so long as they stay down. Denial is not a river in Africa.

 

[ihatework]

Honestly, I’d stop pandering to the neighbour and tell them to do one

 

[catembi]

Any recommendations for poured rubber floors? I found one that looked really good - but it's in America!

 

[HappyHollyDays]

Honestly, I’d stop pandering to the neighbour and tell them to do one

This 100%.

 

[littleshetland]

Ive left my rubber mats down for years. There's no smell unless you lift or disturb them which I have to do on very rare occasions, but my stables smell of clean bedding.

 

[Flyermc]

As these are your floors i would get someone in to re-do the drainage and get them to drain into a channel. This way you could regularly hose the stables and mats whilst still down with water and some disinfectant. The water would drain away and the floors under the mats would be rinsed.

Every 6 months, id just take the mats-up and wash under, making sure there is nothing blocking the drainage.

 

[Carrottom]

I find that wood pellets absorb all the wet and it would be easy to separate that from the droppings when mucking out. Not sure how to dispise of the pee soaked wood though.

 

[catembi]

I have to say, when I pulled up my mats altogether & washed down the bare floors with my super powerful pong reducing chemicals, in the days that followed I noticed that the smell only reduced by about 5%. With the mats down, you can only smell wee within about 5 feet of the door. 'The smell' is from the horses having wees on the limestone yard, which I can do f-all about, apart from spraying the yard once a week. I was surprised as I thought I had found The Source Of The Smell when I pulled up the mats.

The wee smell is very localised - even standing right on the yard, some bits smell of wee and some don't.

 

[Palindrome]

Do they still pee in if there is no litter at all, just the mats?

 

[catembi]

Yes, they certainly do! Drives me distracted. They aren't shut in (unless eating) so why can't they just GO OUTSIDE...?! That's what 'outside' is for! Actually, there is only one who does it all the time - the new chap. The others would only do it v infrequently.

 

[mini-eventer]

Honestly you need bedding, mats stink without decent bedding, a good bed and your horses will likely chose to pee on them rather thank the yard. Woodpellets make it easy to separate droppings.you would have to have a think about what to do with the wet. But it does compost fairly quickly

 

[Cinnamontoast]

I don't know about a company, a box at my yard was done a million years ago, there must be someone who still does it. I think it's sealed so waterproof but I imagine you need breezeblock stables as opposed to wooden.

 

[Pinkvboots]

I don't use rubber mats in my view unless you lift the bed and mats everyday it will still have a lingering smell, I have very deep shavings beds that I put wood pellets down on the wee spots and I lift the wet 2 or 3 times a week and they don't smell at all.

 

[Pinkvboots]

Yes, they certainly do! Drives me distracted. They aren't shut in (unless eating) so why can't they just GO OUTSIDE...?! That's what 'outside' is for! Actually, there is only one who does it all the time - the new chap. The others would only do it v infrequently.

Horses like peeing in a stable all mine come in and wee straight away it's just how they are unfortunately ?

 

[Meredith]

I used rubber matting with some shavings on non draining concrete. It stank. Underneath was rank. I couldn’t lift the mats and OH, who is the most helpful and obliging a non horsey person could be, eventually rebelled and refused to help move them and clean underneath.

I changed the bedding to wood pellets with chopped rape straw on top. Mucking out was easy and the horses’ rugs were cleaner and most importantly there was no smell and no under mat wetness.

I’m not sure if this would work for you as the wet pellets would need to be removed and you will surely get some bed mixed into the poo.

 

[cauda equina]

Might something like SoftStall work for you?
I don't know if this exact thing is available in the uk
https://www.softstall.com/index.html

 

[GoldenWillow]

https://www.quattrorubberandresin.co.uk/services/equine/stable-barn-floors/

Have a look at quattro website and maybe contact them? I've got all my mats from them over the years and found them to be very helpful, and honest! My friend got mats from them which they sealed and she was very happy with them. I've also been on a yard that had stables with a poured rubber floor done by them, it was a long time ago and so maybe not the same product as now but really rated it.

 

[Auslander]

Can you make them a litter tray in the field to discourage them from coming in to pee?
Alf has a stable sized patch of deep miscanthus bedding in a sheltered corner of his field, which he uses religiously, as the other option is peeing on hard ground. You could faancy it up with railway sleepers in a square if you felt the urge

 

[scats]

I pulled my mats up last year to move a few stables down the barn and what was underneath horrified me. It still stinks now when I go in those (empty) stables.
I ditched the fully matted bed as a result to be honest. I now have mats at the front and deep litter at the back.

 

[cauda equina]

Also if your concrete is porous it will hold the smell more
Lifting the mats, allowing the floor to dry really well then painting it with sealant or floor paint might help

 

[Backtoblack]

I sold my rubber mats. I use shavings/aubiouse/similar. much much better

 

[Goldenstar]

I have sealed mats glued down they are fantastic that’s what I would do .

 

[catembi]

Oh yes, it DOES hold the smell and I was wondering how, now that I am using the heavy duty purpose built chemicals! If I sealed it, would I be sealing in the smell so that it would smell forever…?